Sustainable agriculture Essay Example for Free

Sustainable agriculture Essay Organic foods are becoming more available in all types of stores where food is sold. Nowadays, instead of scouring many stores looking for organic foods, they have become available for purchase in everyday shopping locations such as Vons, Ralphs, as well as Target and Wal-Mart. With most of the population being consumed with healthier eating and fitness, eating organic foods is a step people make in bettering oneself. Additionally, it is essential to protect our planet in as many ways as possible. Organic foods have grown nationally, are healthier and safer to consume than conventionally farmed foods, and are beneficial to the environment. Originally, there was no such thing as organic or conventional foods. All farming was organic as there were no pesticides available. However, as the demand for foods increased, farmers had to figure out how to increase the production of their product, as well as preserving the food to be available for longer periods of time; therefore pesticides were born. The term organic foods is defined by the article Is Organic Food Better For You, as â€Å"crops [that] must be produced without conventional pesticides (including herbicides), synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation. †(1) Basically the article is saying that organic foods must be grown naturally without any â€Å"help†. This implies that farmers can use natural elements but nothing man made. Robin Parnes emphasizes that â€Å"organic food, [is] defined by how it cannot be made rather than how it can be made† (Parnes 2). Parnes is insisting that it is more important to state what cannot be used to ensure an authentic organic product. This is because what is NOT in a product is what makes it organic, not what IS in it.A common misconception about organic foods is that they are â€Å"natural†. This is not true. According to Parnes, â€Å"Natural foods can include organic foods, but not all natural foods are organic†. The essence of Parnes’ statement is the misconception is just that, a misconception, with the fact foods may be classified as â€Å"natural† but not classified as organic. Food that has been minimally processed and contains no preservatives is referred to by the food industry as â€Å"natural† (2). Given that the definition of organic food is very similar, it’s understandable why the two would be lumped together as one. However, the main difference as stated by Laurel Vukovic, is that foods must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients in order to be classified organic (50). Organic farms are not always â€Å"small family farms† like consumers would think. Shapin states, Earthbound Farm, a large organic producer, was once a small â€Å"two-and-a- half acre raspberry-and-baby-greens farm†. Like most great things, the company grew and they now have large farms in nine different counties in the states of California, Arizona, Colorado, and even farms in three Mexican states. When organic farming first started in 1993, the owners of Earthbound Farm were asked by Costco, their first client, to drop the term organic because they were afraid their customers would be â€Å"intimidated† and not want to buy the product, because the entire concept was too new. In 2004 Earthbound’s farms had grown nationally with twenty-six thousand acres and is now â€Å"available in supermarkets in every state of the Union† (Shapin). Organic foods today have become a more common household name and consumers are flocking to buy more of it. Katherine DiMatteo states that there has been a â€Å"strong 20%-a-year growth rate since 1990† (qtd. in Is Organic Food Better For You?). DiMatteo is explaining that organic farming is becoming more in demand as people look more to eating right. Parnes supports this fact by stating that â€Å"according to the Food Marketing Institute, more than half of Americans now buy organic food at least once a month† (1). Considering that organic foods used to be very difficult to find and most people were not concerned with eating organic, this is a huge change. This supports the fact that people want to be healthier and eat better. According to Jennifer Alsever, this change is represented by organic foods replacing sugary foods and sodas in some vending machines in Chicago (8). With all the health problems affecting consumers today, people are searching for more healthy alternatives and â€Å"junk food† seems to be disappearing. Consumers have become awakened by their bad food choices and with all of the information on the news and tv today, telling people how rich organic produce is in vitamins and minerals, they are looking to nature for ways to improve their body and overall health. It has been proven that vitamin C and certain antioxidants can help with different diseases, such as â€Å"aging, cardiovascular disease, and cancer† as stated in Is Organic Better For You (3). This article also states that letting nutrient rich organic foods sit for too long in the refrigerator can actually cause the vitamins to deplete by oxidation, therefore losing the benefit. (3). So if you buy organic for the higher vitamins and nutrients, it is important to eat it as soon as possible, so that the benefit you paid a little extra for does not get â€Å"wasted†. Organic food not only helps our bodies, by reducing diseases and supplying us with needed nutrients, it can also help protect the environment. When conventional farming machines pollute the earth, this affects us as well. The air we breathe is polluted, as well as the ground by chemicals and pesticides. Even those who eat organic, can still be affected by conventional farming because of the harmful effects to the environment. Pesticides that are put on plants collect in the soil of the land as well as in water nearby conventional farms. People then drink this water and are exposed to the chemicals. In the article Is Organic Food Better For You, DiMatteo asserts that by eliminating the use of these pesticides and fertilizers in the organic production system, we are not contributing any further to this pollution (3). In making this comment, DiMatteo argues that the pesticides used in conventional farming is one cause to the pollution of our planet. She believes that replacing conventional farming with organic farming is one way to improve our plants health. When buying organic, the only thought which usually comes to mind is food. Yet, there are also organic hair products and skin products. One might believe that these products cannot harm or help our bodies, when in fact these are just as important, if not more important. According to Laurel Vukovic, these chemicals are â€Å"absorbed through the skin and scalp can be even more harmful than those ingested, because [they are notdetoxified by the liver and] pass directly into the bloodstream and fat cells† (48). Basically, she is stating that there is no way to fight off the effects of toxins contracted through hair and skin products. When toxins are ingested there is a detoxification process whereas when they are applied they are directly absorbed. Therefore, it is even more important to purchase products that are organic when trying to live a complete healthy life. Organic farming is a way to not only improve our health internally but externally as well, by protecting the environment. Organic foods take us back to the way food was before the big corporations got involved and â€Å"tainted† the product. It is safer to consume foods (as well as use products) that lack the harsh chemicals and pesticides. Our society is â€Å"obsessed† with pushing food to last longer than nature intended and this is a big reason pesticides were developed. Unfortunately, there is a price to pay for keeping food fresh longer. This price is being paid not only by our bodies, but by our environment as well. WORKS CITED Alsever, Jennifer. â€Å"No Twinkies? Vending Machines Go Organic. † Going Green. NBCNews. com, 12 Jan 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Ciampa, Linda.â€Å"The Organic Debate: Healthier or Not? † In-Depth Specials. CNN. com. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. â€Å"Is Organic Food Better for You? Here’s How to Decide If it’s Worth The High Price. † Food Recipes. WebMD. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. Parnes, Robin Brett. â€Å"How Organic Food Works. † How Stuff Works. Web. 11 Feb. 2013. Shapin, Steven. Organic Food and Farming Has Drawbacks. The Local Food Movement. Ed. Amy Francis. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. Vukovic, Laurel. â€Å"A Shopper’s Guide to Organics†. Better Nutrition. Organic Directory, Sep. 2008. PDF fiile. 12. Feb 2013.